Presidential Rhetoric and the Purpose of American Education

This study examines how U.S. presidents have defined the purpose of education. Presidential rhetoric about education in inaugural and State of the Union speeches was collected and examined. Throughout history, two purposes of education have gained the most attention—civic responsibility and economic efficiency—with emphasis shifting from civic responsibility to economic efficiency over time.     

Leadership in large and very large primary schools

This paper examines leadership in large primary schools. The paper reports on interviews conducted with heads and deputies in 26 schools with 600+ pupils. The first part of the paper sets out what the heads and deputies said about leading such large schools. Then five themes which emerged from their testimonies are explored. The themes are: context; site management; organisational structures; the role of the deputy head; professional development. The interviews have been used to inform a second stage of the study, which is a large survey of 500 other large and very large schools. The quantitative data are still being analysed at the time of this paper going to press and the findings will be reported later.     

What we know about nonfiction and young adult readers and what we need to do about it

Nonfiction for young adults is enjoying a rebirth of interest among publishers, librarians, and teachers with the emergence of an approach that uses facts as information to be shared with children trying to make sense of their world. Reading interest studies disclose patterns in young readers' preferences in nonfiction. Suggestions are offered to encourage the reading of nonfiction, to help teachers use these books effectively in classroom discussion, and to help select nonfiction for reading aloud. He has been president of the National Council of Teachers of English Assembly on Adolescent Literature. He and Betty Carter edited the 1988 edition ofBooks for You: A Senior High Booklist for NCTE, and the two also publishedNonfiction for Young Adults: From Delight to Wisdom from Oryx Press. Address for correspondence: Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204. Betty Carter, a former junior high reading teacher and school librarian, is now an assistant professor at Texas Woman's University in the School of Library and Information Studies, where she teaches classes in young adult and children's literature. She has chaired the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults Committee and is president-elect of NCTE's Assembly on Adolescent Literature.     

An examination of institutional policy on copyright and access to research resources in Uganda***

Education and research are the cornerstones of Africa's socioeconomic and political development. Yet several barriers stand in the way of Africa's education and research institutions in realizing their full potential. This paper examines copyright as a barrier in the access and use of electronic resources in Africa's education and research contexts. This paper addresses this policy question by examining the extent to which the draft policy on research and intellectual property rights management of Makerere University advances access to resources and the open sharing of knowledge. Based on the critical analysis of Makerere's policy, this paper notes that openness should trump other institutional interests in the copyright system. The position taken in the paper is that institutional policies should advance open sharing of information and knowledge (internal or external to the institution). Short-term legal remedies are proposed based on various Creative Commons' licenses that are designed to advance openness within existing national copyright statutes. Long-term remedies suggested involve reforming national and international laws and instruments to advance openness including protecting existing provisions for education and research. Protection of education and research activities can be attained by not simply availing the existing exceptions and limitations but also precluding statutory exceptions and limitations from being overridden by contractual licenses. The proposed short and long-term remedies are expected to be addressed by institutional policies to facilitate in the access and use of e-resources (and other research and educational resources).     

Print Media

Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson All in Color For a Dime (Arlington House, 81 Centre Ave., New Rochelle, New York 10801, $11.95, or $7.95 from Nostalgia Book Club)

Warren Chappell's A Short History of the Printed Word (Knopf, $12.50)

Turner Catledge's My Life and The Times (Harper & Row, $10.00)

Hodding Corter's Their Words Were Bullets: The Southern Press in War, Reconstruction, and Peace (University of Georgia Press, 04:00)

Winzola McLendon and Scottie Smith's Don't Quote Me: Washington Newswomen and the Power society (Dutton, $5.95)